Air Serbia is gearing up to expand its wide-body fleet with the imminent arrival of the first of two Airbus A330-200 aircraft (pictured), while the second is expected in October or November. As EX-YU Aviation News learns, once both are delivered, the airline plans to scale back the use of its A330-200 registered YU-ARC (Mihajlo Pupin) until it goes for a full cabin retrofit, scheduled for next year. Instead, the airline will maximise the utilisation of the incoming YU-ARD and YU-ARE jets, which will feature newer-generation cabins and are expected to provide a more comfortable passenger experience.
Despite recent media reports suggesting an increase in long-haul flight frequencies next summer, EX-YU Aviation News learns the airline plans to maintain its existing schedule as it will to optimise the usage of its A330 fleet, with one able to serve as spare on certain days to avoid the need of last-minute wide-body wet-leases in case an aircraft has to go out of service or there is disruption to the schedule. As a result, Air Serbia is expected to maintain daily flights to New York, three weekly to Chicago, and two weekly services to both Shanghai and Guangzhou next summer. Additionally, it will continue operating one weekly flight to Tianjin, although future adjustments may occur depending on market conditions.
Air Serbia will commence services to Guangzhou at the end of the month, while the launch of its Shanghai service is expected by the end of the year. Further developments concerning the Chinese market are anticipated later this week. A total of nine weekly flights are expected between Serbia and China this winter, five operated by Air Serbia and two each by Hainan Airlines and China Southern Airlines.
As EX-YU Aviation News learns the airline is no longer entertaining the idea of adding A321 aircraft to its fleet for the time being. Last year, the carrier said it saw potential in the addition of the narrow-body jet, which can seat up to 220 passengers. The plans involved leasing two A321s that had been parked at Ljubljana Airport for some time. However, due to a significant rise in aircraft leasing rates over the past year, the airline no longer sees the addition of A321s as economically viable. Instead, it will focus on expanding its Embraer and A320 fleets for the foreseeable future.
Photo courtsey of Humberto Delgado
It makes sense since I believe YU-ARC is on a power by the hour contract.
ReplyDeleteIt is also in the worst shape
DeleteI always find these power by the hour deals fascinating. How is it worth it for the lessor?
DeleteUsed less = lower maintenence costs, less wear
DeleteThis contracts usually have a minimum hours clause that you can't be billed less than a certain number of hours as an airline.
DeleteThat aircraft looks like a flying circus.
ReplyDeleteWhy did they remove those black things around cockpit windows?
Delete^ it is not part of their standard livery. These aircraft will be repainted in 2027.
DeleteStill three years to look at that abomination.
DeleteThe red underbelly combined with those drawings looks really disgusting. Should have made it in blue letters like on the fuselage.
DeleteAlso what was the point of removing those black lines around the windows which really looked good?!
The red logo on the belly is part of their standard livery
DeleteAnd the black lines are not.
I think it would have looked better if they kept the engines in standard livery.
DeleteThe Byzantine eagle tail is also part of their 'standard livery' however we can't see it in years.
DeleteAll in all it's a тотални промашај.
DeleteAll expo liveries so far have been ugly
Deletehttps://flic.kr/p/wEgUFi
https://thedesignair.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/expo2.jpg
https://d1a2ot8agkqe8w.cloudfront.net/web/2019/04/emirates-expo-2020-dubai-3_76986.jpg
Agree. They are all hideous. Tge JU one is definitely better than Alitalia at least.
Delete*the
DeleteThe Emirates A380 was the real flying circus. But no one seemed to care. When JU is in question it's the most important thing.
DeleteIt would be much less ugly if they did some very small adjustments, such as leaving the engines in their original livery, painting the underbelly branding dark blue and leaving the black area around the cockpit as it was.
DeleteLike this it's clearly useless.
It looks awesome im my opinion . Not super busy and very modern. Great job .
DeleteI saw a picture with engines painted. Believe me, it was awful. They realized it in a last minute and didn’t painted it. It is far much better.
DeleteI love it. It's fresh and fun, as it is supposed to be. Yes, JAT livery from 1984 was really nice but we're in 2024. Good morning people! I understand that most of the people commenting are stuck in front of the computer with little to none contact with current trends, fashion or not able to distance themselves form the memories etc, but come on... As for the engines and mask over the cockpit windows - now THAT would be hideous! Those black masks (especially the ones with pointy tips) are one of the most unprofessional and ugly things ever painted on the aircraft.
DeleteSaw the picture with mask?
DeleteActually most people were thinking the opposite.
The politically-fuelled toxic comments from the usual internal and next-door peanut galleries are always fun to read.
DeleteWell done JU. Nice livery as far as marketing liveries go. Not too overbearing and to the point. Spread the word of this superb event to far-flung global destinations and bring new tourists to our beautiful country!
Any and every comment in this blog that doesn't praise JU's management decisions is politically-fueled and toxic!
DeleteYou have to either agree and celebrate whatever JU is doing or you are a hater. 🙄
Regarding circus Expo livery comments: well, Expo is some sort of circus itself. Što bi rekli - vašar. U skladu sa događajelm ide i reklama.
DeleteWhat 1984 JAT livery?
DeleteI still think 2 A321s would make sense for Russia ops at least. Question is if lessor would give them approval to use them to there.
ReplyDeleteA330 can also be used to Russia...
DeleteNot really. I think YU-ARB can't be used. YU-ARC can but you risk your entire long haul ops if plane goes tech and gets stuck in Russia. One of their A320s or A319s was stuck for days in Moscow last year.
DeleteYes, shame about a321. They could utilize them very good for Moscow, Zurich, Milan, Barcelona and summer charters
DeleteShame? Why shame?
DeleteZRH needs frequencies rather than capacity to adequately compete with LX.
DeleteMXP and BCN also could do with more frequencies rather than capacity seeing that both are not operated at least 14 pw.
Frequencies also require more pilots and flight attendants.
DeleteSometimes make more financial sense to fly a 210 seat aircraft with an 85-90% load factor than 2 A319 or A320s with 70-75% load factor.
There is a reason that A321s for the last few years are the most ordered aircraft models by far.
Capacity over frequency works for the ULCC model more than it does for the legacy model, which need frequencies over capacity. The European legacies operating A321's also have significantly larger networks compared to JU.
DeleteJU is moving to replace A319's for a ERJ/A320 mix, which will see capacity increase to high demand routes (ie: OTP, BCN, ATH, LED) and frequency increases which were good on the A319 but more efficiently operated by a slightly smaller capacity aircraft (FRA). Using FRA as an example, switching the A319 for ERJ's has allowed them to double frequencies which they haven't been able to do for over a decade, making them more competitive to LH while increasing connectivity for transit pax via BEG and increased offering for O&D pax. This has been quite successful for JU as FRA already often sees A319 upgrades while allowing the option to keep the ERJ on the route depending on demand for the day and maintaining stable frequencies.
Increased frequencies on Western European routes will allow for easier connectivity for flights that don't fit the current waves (think of routes over 3 hours block time) which is the next move for JU. A321's don't fit the current short to mid term needs of JU.
Increased frequencies on smaller aircraft mean higher CASK.
DeleteIncreased frequencies also need more pilots and flight attendants. JU has trouble finding enough staff to fly the Embraer's that are coming as well as the aircraft already here.
its right, that JU needs more frequencies. if they want to have a real, successful hub and spoke model they need to create a network that makes it easy and convenient for people to land at BEG and connect to somewhere else or for people in Serbia to travel easily to other places. that can only be achieved with more frequencies.
DeleteThat’s not the question. But one A321 with 40 passengers more may produce huge revenue on every round to Moscow. And there are 3 per day
Delete1 A321 is an operational nightmare incase it needs to be swapped. 2 A321's not much better. We see this already with the A330 fleet and the challenges that come when things go bad. Wet lease isn't an option due to sanctions. JU has already 8 A320's in the fleet (3 dry lease, 5 wet lease) so it's easier to adjust accordingly when needed. Adding more A320's simplifies operations alot as the aircraft can fly to a wider range of destinations in the network.
DeleteThe next 7 days, 7/20 (roughly 35%) of SVO flights are operating with the A320. Increasing all flights to A320 would provide that extra capacity of 38 seats per flight you speak of, 494 seats each way per week (capacity increase equivalent to another 3 A320 flights).
@00:47 good analysis. I still think that bigger planes will fill up on Russia routes.
DeleteReturn ticket to Moscow is about 1000 Euro. 40 passengers means 40k Euro per rotation. 120k Euro daily. I believe that’s the price of monthly leasing for A321
DeletePrecisely, thats why you bump up 65% (13 weekly) of the remaining flights on A320's.
DeleteOf course they are going to use the 'newest' A330s the most. They also have the best cabins.
ReplyDeleteThe newest 10 year old aircraft! The South African Airways aircraft YU-ARC really should be withdrawn ASAP. It is such a downgrade for anyone and the business product is not worth it.
DeleteIt was parked for years.
DeleteInterior still ages and deteriorates in the sun and heat even being 3 years in the desert!
DeleteWindows are taped while planes are parked long term. You learned something today.
DeleteStill gets hot inside. Tape does nothing. Do you want to try being inside one during the day. Why don’t you try? Thought so.
DeleteThey really were interested in those Avianca A321s. Seems to be Air Serbia is always hunting the cheapest deal for plane leases.
ReplyDeleteYet for the wet leases they are throwing the cash just like that.
DeleteYou know how much they are paying for what? They sent you the contracts?
DeleteAnonymous09:35
DeletePretty sure those Wamos ah hoc rentals came in at a discounted rate.... (I'm being sarcastic)
Well I am certain they phoned you and told you the price.
DeleteProbably not cheap, but still better than cancel many long haul flights
DeleteI'm sure he would be the first to complain why Air Serbia didn't find an alternative after a bird struck the engine of their plane.
Delete@09:35 we all know it’s expensive as hell
DeleteYes ad hoc wet lease is expensive, long term and planned wet lease is not the same and they obviously don't lose money on the routes where they use it. Wamos was exceptional and emergency and considering they work with them, I would not be surprised if they have prenegotiated prices with them.
DeleteNo anon would rather they left passengers stranded. Then he could post how it's a terrible airline for leaving passengers stranded.
DeleteAlso good that they are making an effort to provide service to customers when their plan A plane is out of service. You go to plan B, albeit with likely higher costs, transport customers and cargo from point A to B with modified on board product.
DeleteI didn't realise they still put the logo across the belly :D
ReplyDeleteThey do. It's on all the planes including the all the ATRs that came recently.
DeleteDidn't notice. Glad they kept it. I like it
DeleteLooking forward to the China developments. Maybe they will finally put PVG on sale.
ReplyDeleteSo most likely no new long haul routes after Shanghai until winter 25/26?
ReplyDeleteYes, that's when they will probably start Miami and makes sense to start it in winter.
DeleteOr Toronto
DeleteToronto makes no sense to launch in winter.
DeleteIt's not possible to train enough pilots for A330 by summer 2025 to add more routes in June already, so yes, winter next year is most liekly.
DeleteCanada as a whole is in a really bad shape and JU is well aware of those conditions. Do not think they are considering flying there until current regime there is gine and economy and living standards get improved.
DeleteReading those repeated BS comments about Canada while in reality air travel is doing better than expected to Euro tourist hotspots this summer. Problem is with BEG and JU.
DeleteDidn't two airlines go bankrupt in Canada in last 6 months and passenger numbers still haven't recovered from Covid. In fact I just read Mexico has overtaken Canada as second largest market in North America.
DeleteCanada went woke with Trudeau and now its economy is going broke.
DeleteIt could be that YYZ isn't really interested in attracting foreign carriers outside of the Star Alliance network (ie Air Canada partners). MIA for example has been quite active in attracting new airlines, offering subsidies, which has had effect. It would explain why YYZ keeps being pushed back despite a decent O&D market.
DeleteDid Air Serbia get incentives from US side to launch JFK service? Not likely. It would have been discussed by now.
DeleteSame expectations should be set for flights to Torobto.
Canada population is aging and they need higher birth rates or increased immigration (maybe this one is not too popular with certain people). Europe has same issue, population is aging and not enough births to replace deaths
DeleteJU got subsidies from the Serbian government which covered their loss. Alot at JU has changed since.
DeleteStop the Florida agenda. It too is seasonal.
DeleteQuestion was CLEARLY about incentives from the US side. Learn to read before making comments.
DeleteFor the comments about politics and Canada, there are more suitable places on the internet for rhose topics, not on this site
Smart
ReplyDeleteWhen will YU-ARD arrive in Belgrade?
ReplyDeleteThis week
DeleteNext
DeleteI hope they do consider fly some long distance leisure destinations for charter use sometime in winter .
ReplyDeleteThey said it can happen only if local tour operators get their act together.
DeleteMIA would be very popular with Russians!
DeleteSound's costly to have an A330 sitting around as a spare when you only have a small fleet.
ReplyDelete1) Aircraft is on a power by the hour contract. Meaning they pay for it only when it flies
Delete2) it would not be sitting around. It would be free on certain days of the week.
Why isn't it employed on short-haul basis then?
DeleteAmadeus-GDS is showing two weekly flights BEG-TSN next summer:
ReplyDeleteJU 984 3 BEG TSN 1430 0630+1 0 09APR25 22OCT25 332 10:00
JU 984 7 BEG TSN 1700 0900+1 0 06APR25 19OCT25 332 10:00
It's not on sale and it won't happen.
DeleteIt is on sale via www.airserbia.com
DeleteLast year they also had it on sale 2 weekly and then removed it.
DeleteMakes sense 2pw on winter to TSN
DeleteThe difference with next summer is that they will have the aircraft for 2 pw TSN.
DeleteIt is for sure on sale on JU website and it is 2 weekly.
DeleteWe were informed that top management wants it to go down to 1 weekly. We will see, apparently they are afraid there is not enough demand for 2 weekly. I think there is.
DeleteWhat is happening with two E195s? They have not been registered yet.
ReplyDeleteI looked at timing when A320 and A330 were introduced and DCV didn't take this long.
DeleteProbably not enough pilots to fly them so the convenient excuse about paperwork and bureaucratic obstacles is given.
DeleteBy the time they have heavy exploitation of ARD and ARE their cabins will deteriorate and in a while they will look as bad as current ARC. So it looks that they will never have all of them in the same condition and at the same standard. In my opinion they just need to bit the bullet and install brand new cabins at more or less the same time so they can have a unified fleet.
ReplyDeleteWhile that sounds nice, people have to have in mind how expensive that is. If people want JU to be profitable at this stage, it can't afford such investments.
DeleteCabins will be fine because
A) They are coming in good condition (unlike ARC)
B) Marek said they purchased the same seats so they can be replaced when needed
@09:44
DeleteAgree that the new cabins will be more than fine.
Also YU-ARC after the refit will finally be fine too.
BUT that cabin product is already 10 years old.
The competition has been moving ahead.
And in 2024 almost all airlines flying transatlantically, both European and American offer WIFI.
Personally wifi is nice to have and they should take another look at it. I also enjoy no layovers and flying direct a lot more, air serbia has won my business when it comes nyc to belgrade (we travel to BiH once a year). Been doing this for a few years now.
DeleteWith two A330 Air Serbia managed to fly daily to JFK, 3pw to ORD and 1pw to TSN. Doubling A330 fleet adds only 2pw PVG and CAN. Yes I am aware of the need to refurb YU-ARC cabin and have some slack in the schedule but adding just 4 weekly rotations with two more A330s makes no sense.
ReplyDeleteIt's too expensive to have half your long-haul fleet parked.
DeleteNo one is parking half of their long haul fleet. Stop making nonsense up.
Delete@10:18
DeleteDid you read the article?
One will be in refit, the other will act as a backup in case one of the two flying goes tech .
But if I put my rose tinted glasses on they won't be needing Wamos A330 to cover.
I agree. ORD could be boosted to 4 or 5 pw, JFK 9 or 10 pw in the peak summer season and they would still have slack in the schedule.
DeleteYou misunderstood. The retrofit is expected to be completed by the summer months. Only one aircraft is expected to serve as back up on certain days.
DeleteAdmin do you have any info about the restarting of CAI that the President announced in July?
Deletehttps://www.exyuaviation.com/2024/07/president-air-serbia-to-restore-cairo.html
Also many European airlines are restarting TLV, does JU plan to do so too this year?
Not many airlines have restarted TLV, while those that have experience frequent delays, cancellations and temporary suspensions depending on the security situation. Not worth the trouble for JU.
DeleteLH, OS, AF, A3, SN, CY, HV have restarted flights.
Deletehttps://www.timesofisrael.com/lufthansa-group-to-resume-flights-to-israel-thursday-after-month-long-pause/
Deletehttps://www.aviation24.be/airlines/ita-italia-trasporto-aereo/european-airlines-resume-flights-to-tel-aviv-amid-geopolitical-tensions/
Again, those that have restarted TLV deal with frequent delays, cancellations and periodic suspensions depending on the security situation. LCA-TLV is a 30-40 min flight and is the easiest to restart.
So on top of LH, OS, AF, A3, SN, CY, HV there is AZ also restarting TLV. Good to know.
DeleteBT returns to TLV next week too.
Delete+1
ReplyDelete+1000
ReplyDeleteGreat post by Nemjee and all his points are correct.
ReplyDeleteIf you are not an LCC a FF program is a must! Especially for an airline serving four continents and has ambitious growth plans.
And is even more important if you are not a member of an alliance and you need to compete with them for your most frequent (and valuable) customers.
@admin
ReplyDelete"Additionally, it will continue operating one weekly flight to Tianjin"
It is already in JU schedule next summer to operate 2 weekly flights to TSN.
It will cut soon to 1
DeleteBig cuts are coming for winter. wait and see
ReplyDeleteWinter is coming!
ReplyDeleteI am sure Wizz will bring 5th plane to BEG next summer.
ReplyDeleteWhat 4 continents? I count 3!
ReplyDeleteif info further up this thread is correct W6 will have a lot more aircraft available by next summer. So I also believe that a 5th plane on BEG is given.
ReplyDelete@17:26 they serve seasonally Egypt and Tunisia.
ReplyDeleteA321 with 220 seats is simply to big for loads usually carried by JU. Eventually JU could start thinking about using A321XLR with separate business class cabin to be used on medium haul routes which would allow JU to fly to Arab Gulf, Central Africa or ex-soviet States in Central Asia as well as Pakistan, Iran or Iraq etc. But first they need to develop big enough European network which would feed those medium haul services. And probably they should join one of the global groupings: it looks like oneworld membership would make the most sense.
ReplyDeleteI think they will definitely launch AGP with the 5th plane
ReplyDeleteHe well knows that what he is trying to say on here is not true and makes 0 sense. We got more 330 crew then needed and many more are coming on line by Nov this year. Nemjee just stop as half what you post on here is not true .Thank you .
ReplyDeleteNonsense, I am a pilot at JU and many left the company and are still leaving. Stop spreading JU propaganda that everything is ok when it's not. We are flying more than ever because there is a pilot shortage. Only thing they have enough is cabin crew but they can't fly the A330, A320, A319 and ATR. So please stick to facts. There is a reason why JU has to take so many foreign planes.
ReplyDeleteCan you prove you are a pilot and not some amateur analyst?
ReplyDelete4 planes and almost the same amount of frequencies like with 2 planes ( just 4 flights per weeks added)...You don`t need to be really smart to figure out that something is wrong here....Explanation about spare plane and retrofit is ridiculous
ReplyDelete